#1 The most expensive shoes are the worst.

According to a study done by Bernard Marti, a preventative medicine specialist at Switserlands’ Universtity of Bern, runners wearing A-quality running shoes are 123% more likely to get injured than runners in cheap shoes.
That’s right. Seems crazy right?

He and his team analysed 4.358 runners in the Bern Grand-Prix, which is a 9.6 Mile race. The first thing that struck them was that 45 percent of the studied group had been hurt in the year leading up to the race.
The rest of the information from the study wasn’t any less surprising:

The most common variable between the runners wasn’t training surface, running speed, body weight, age, motivation or previous injury.

It was the price of the shoe.

Runners in shoes over 90$ were twice as much likely to get hurt as runners in shoes of 40$ and below.

For me, it’s not that much of a shocker. I’ve been running on 20$ fake (don’t tell anybody 😉 ) Nike Free running shoes and I’ve never felt better during my runs.

#2 Feet don’t respond well to cushioning

We believe that the more cushioning in our shoes, the more comfortable the feet will be. We might be wrong.
First off, all the cushioning in our expensive running shoes do nothing much to reduce impact. When you think about it, that’s not so strange. During every step we take during a run, the body weight that comes down smashing onto the ground can go up to 10 times your body weight.
In my case, that would be 1500 pound of force coming down onto a half an inch of rubber. It’s very unlikely that piece of rubber is going to absorb it all.

“You can cover an egg with an oven mitt before rapping it with a hammer, but that egg ain’t coming out alive”- Christopher Mcdougall (Born to Run)

Secondary, more cushioning make our landing mechanics worse. During some studies on gymnasts they found that the thicker the landing mat, the harder athletes would slam down, trying to find balance. A comparable thing happens when we run. The feet sense a soft underground and instinctively pushing through to find a hard, stable surface to land on.
This is often found when multiple types of shoes are used while running on a force plate. Often, force absorbed by the plate changes significantly while changing between well cushioned shoes, thin soled shoes and barefoot running shoes. Just not the way you’d expect.

Often impact levels are the least in bare foot of thin soled footwear, and highest in cushioned shoes. And that’s because with less cushioning to rely on, we use our bodies’ own shock-absorbers and they happen to be really good.

And even better, it can be trained to become even better.

If you want to know how your shock absorbers are functioning, click here

Let me be straight upfront. If I only had to choose ONE piece of equipment to train with the rest of my life, it would be a Kettlebell. And that’s coming from a skeptic.

In a relatively short period of time (I’ve been working out for over 15 years and have been using Bells for the last year or so) I completely fell head over heels for Kettlebells in all shapes and sizes.

okay that might be a lie *

So what are Kettlebells and why are they so special?

Let me break it down for you.

Kettlebells are canon-ball-shaped weights with a handle on them. They should remind you of a tea-kettle.
Their shape allows you to perform movements that can’t be replicated with dumbbells or barbells, giving you an all-round fitness experience which no tool can do better.

One of the key benefits is that it makes the entire body work together in most exercises, which makes it possible to train strength ánd cardio at the same time. How convenient is that?

forget about those hours on the crosstrainer

Because most movements put the entire body to work, the workout is very time-effective. A short 30-45 workout will give you all the effects that a 90 minute machine based gym session would do, and most probably more.

The movements are not easy since multiple joints and muscles are being put to work. So getting someone experienced and certified to teach you would be strongly recommended. (like me)

“Kettlebell training is not for sissies but it is not elitist. Dr. Krayevskiy, father of Kettlebells, took up training at the age of forty-one and twenty years later he was said to look fresher and healthier than at forty”

-The Strongfit Certification Handbook

If this is you, contact me and we’ll make it happen.

The price of admission is a strong spirit and attention to detail.

* Because of their movement types, Kettlebells should start at around 16-20kg for men and 12-16kg for women.

Everything moves too slow. Which I guess, is a good thing because if my clients are anything like me, they will struggle with this as well. It really helps to keep track of objective progress ( see stat page of 5×5 app ) and imagining what that progress will look like on the broader scale of things.

During my session with Cheryl, she mentions right at the beginning that she might not be able to workout well.
She’s tired, her sleep quality hasn’t been good and she pulled a muscle in her during gardening work.
I make a note of it, smile at her and say “let’s just see what we can do”. During the workout session, she’s breaking records all over the place.
First, she did full sets with what her 1 rm was 4 weeks ago.
Then she completed double the work of an exercise she struggled with last week.
Last but not least, suddenly she realized that her back wasn’t hurting.

“Actually, I feel a lot better than when I came in”.

I don’t know if this will be the case at the start of the session, but clinical experience shows us that in most cases, it does.
It’s important because this realization creates a positive feedback loop which is the following:

I don’t feel good, might not perform well

Perform well, or better than expectation

Feel good about performance

Positive reference for next time when not feeling good

Better decision making

As opposed to a negative feedback loop like this:

I don’t feel good, might not perform well

Decide not to workout

Feel bad about not meeting expectations/ Lose progress

Lose motivation

Feedback loops

Mine, and Cheryl’s takeaway from this:

Especially when in the first 12 weeks of training, it’s important not to give in to expected outcomes that only give you short-term instant gratification. Make decisions based on planning, not on the emotion of the day.
Of course, if you find out that you’re actually hurting or not feeling good during the workout, you can still decide to rest. But at least at that moment you’ve made a decision based on actual feedback of your body and not a projected outcome of the brain.

I’ve been applying this mindset experiment over the last year -not just for fitness purposes- and it has given me great results. Hope it can do the same for you.

After conversion to the co-enzyme pyridoxal phosphate (plp) it plays an important role in the structure, degradation and conversion of amino acids.
It also helps in the regulation of the hunger /saturation mechanism and the regulation of sleep rhythm.

More and more studies indicate that B6 also improves cognitive function and improves the immune system.

The RDI is set to 1.5 mg for both men and women. It is in a large amount of products but often not in high concentration.

http://markchenmovement.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/foamrol-black.jpg300300adminhttp://markchenmovement.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Logo-2-300x123.pngadmin2017-07-04 05:21:282017-07-04 05:22:39Foamrolling the IT

Okay, we can not put labels on people.

After all, we are all different and move differently. But the truth is that people mainly move in 3 directions, which are the following:

I will not make it too technical but the planes mean the following:

Sagittal (Blue): Move forward / backward, bend forward to pick up something
Frontal (Red): Sideways movements, such as when we raise our hands to wave to someone
Transverse (Green): Rotatory movements, such as when we reach to open a door.

The vast majority of our movements take place in the so-called Sagittal plane. Or often, actually to be more precise …

… the vast majority of our non-movements.

Fact: A bad posture places 40% more pressure on the spinal column

When we move much in the same directions, the body adjusts to it. In practice, we see that this often results in 2 different archetypes: extension type and flexion type.

As you can see in the picture, there are a number of things that belong to these types.

Not everybody has all the features, but they often influence each-other . As a result, they are often seen together. The more features you have, the more you belong to this pattern.

Extension types often come with compression problems, or complaints related to pressure when joint surfaces are close to each other. -and thereby imposing excessive pressure on the connective tissue.

Flexion Type

The Flexion type has the following characteristics:

-The shoulders often “roll” forward
-The head is on the front and the neck is extended
-Upper back is rounded
-Lower back is flattened, or even rounded
– There is “no ass!”
– Knees are bent

Possible Issues:

The Flexion types are often the people with an office job. Working behind a desk easily pulls your body to this archetype . Mostly if you are not aware of your posture while sitting. This habit is then taken to the car and home where the “working posture” is continued to the “couch posture”.

This often passive posture can adversely affect the connective issue that hold the vertebra together. The inter-vertebral discs may also suffer greatly. Because there is little active support of the muscles, almost all of the strength ends up directly to the so-called “passive structures” such as the joints, ligaments and cartilage.

Herniated discs and instability problems are often seen complaints in this pattern.

Which back type do you have?

Which pattern is most like you? Once you know this, you can start balancing your posture through targeted exercises.

Under this article, please let me know what kind of type you are and what complaints you may experience!